The Duel and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov

 

6/10

I read this one a little less than six months ago. It's been a while since I've read Russian literature, and this was my first experience with Chekhov. This has six short stories: The Duel; My Wife; Murder; The Black Monk; Terror; and The Two Volodyas. The Duel was easily my favorite, probably a solid 8/10, and I was very satisfied with my intro to Chekhov. But the others weren't nearly as good, in my opinion. My Wife and The Black Monk were fine. Murder was ok. And for the life of me, after less than six months, I can't remember almost anything about Terror or The Two Volodyas, which likely means that I had checked out at that point and was ready to move on from Chekhov until another time. Also, they were super short, 12 and 11 pages respectively. Far too short to really be worthwhile. The Duel was 100 pages while My Wife was 40, Murder 30, and The Black Monk 30. In most cases, I do prefer a story that is long enough to allow it to develop. And that's the case here where the longer the story, the more I ended up liking it.

Quotes from The Duel:

"I have an uncle, just an ordinary parish priest, whose faith is such that when he goes into the fields to pray for rain during a drought, he takes his umbrella and a leather coat to avoid a soaking on the way home. There's faith for you!"

"'The boat's tossed back,' he thought; 'it makes two movements forward and one back, but the oarsmen don't give up, they swing the oars tirelessly and have no fear of the high waves. The boat moves on and on, now it's disappeared from view. In half an hour the rowers will be able to see the ship's lights clearly and within an hour they'll be alongside the ladder. Life is like that ... As they search for truth people take two paces forward and one back. Suffering, mistakes and life's tedium throw them back, but thirst for the truth and stubborn willpower drive them on and on. And who knows? Perhaps they'll arrive at the real truth in the end.'"

Quote from Murder:

"But a little later, when I was at confession, the idea suddenly dawned on me: that priest's married, he doesn't keep the fasts and he smokes. Then why should he hear me confess, what authority did he have to pardon my sins, with him more of a sinner than me?"